Tuesday, February 23, 2010

The Sasquatch! Vibe

For those disappointed in the lack of headliners at Sasquatch! 2010, here's a quick story. Big time headliners cost a lot of money. The more tickets you are able to sell because of these headliners, the better chance you have making back the money spent landing them. Sasquatch! has a capacity around 25,000 per day, compared to Bonnaroo (90,000), Lollapalooza (75,000), and Coachella (65,000). It is pretty clear that festivals selling more than twice the amount of tickets have a better chance to recoup that expense. Those disappointed with the headliners, stop reading this post, and instead go here.

Last year the lineup had the strongest lower and middle tiers, with a declining headliner (Ben Harper), an up and coming headliner (King's of Leon), and a bonafide dual headliner (Jane's Addiction/Nine Inch Nails). While the flow of the previous three years was geared toward shuffling everyone to the main stage to see the big draw, there were other options last year, with the Dance Tent and bigger draws late at the Wookie.

This year, they've one upped themselves. The lineup is deeper than last year (is there even a lower tier?), the dance tent is stacked, and the headliners are making music snobs around the nation break their piggy banks and make high spirited calls to their parents just to, "check in." My Morning Jacket, Massive Attack, Ween, and Pavement is an upper tier any festival would be jealous to have, except the larger festivals would go with two of these bands, and two others who have a greater appeal to the masses, someone like Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, or Radiohead.

In going away from the larger headliners, Sasquatch! is settling into their own vibe. With successful tickets sales again this year, you can bet the organizers will use this formula moving forward, and go with bands who would most likely be subheadliners at larger festivals, like Sigur Ros, Wilco, and Portishead. It is a large step towards creating a music festival for fans of music, rather than a music festival for fans of a couple bands.

With that said, how different is the crowd going to be at this year's festival? What percent of last year's crowd have listened to an album by each of this year's top four (maybe 5%)? I'm guessing you'll see a few less high fives, and a few more handshakes, a few less teenagers, and a few more eastcoast folk, a few less PBRs shotgunned at 3am, and a few more microbrews sipped at midnight, a few less shirtless men dancing on cars taking pictures of themselves, and a few more, well, people not doing that.

Sasquatch! may be moving away from the larger headliners they've had in the past, but the festival still has one thing just as spectacular as the headliners the larger festivals showcase. The Gorge itself.

I think the headliners are great for the most part, and will be returning for my 3rd consecutive year this year, and am certainly all for a de-bro-ification of the festival, but I stand by my statement that Ween seems really small for a closing festival spot. MMJ, Massive Attack/Pavement, yes. Ween just sticks out to me as smaller than the rest. Makes me wonder still if either another band will be added for monday and/or the promoters originally intended for Massive Attack or Pavement to play Monday, and schedule conflicts made them shift one back to Sunday.

Oh how fast you flip flop. A few short post ago you were as giddy as a school girl to see Soundgarden take the stage - but now that the headliners are noticeably less popular you insult the people that are disappointed?

To be perfectly honest I would much prefer your own predicted lineup to the one that's actually coming. Does that make us both bros?

Although I'm not a major Ween fan, I'm with Horned Gramma's comments here. This is my fourth Sasquatch in a row, and I hope to keep going every year.

I'm never disappointed about who the headliners are or aren't. I don't go to see the headliners anyway. I go for the chance to get right up in front at the Wookie and Yeti stages for some of the "less-popular" bands that I am nonetheless familiar with, as well as for those who are more well-known. For example, The Wrens and M83 were practically worth the price of admission for me last year! Sun Kil Moon and Bon Iver were great too, and so was School of Seven Bells.

Big-name acts are generally big-names for obvious reasons, i.e. they got where they are by being good and by being massively popular. But most bands aren't at that level... and this doesn't necessarily mean most of the "other bands" have to suck!

If some people think they won't have as much fun at Sasquatch because they don't know anything about the "lesser" bands on the roster, that's fine, they can go have fun somewhere else... Or they can check out some music by these "unknown" artists, and maybe decide these other acts are worth going to the Gorge to check out!

No flip-flop there, the blogger isn't trying to make lemonade out of lemons, because this year's roster is not made up of lemons. Most people who pay attention to music will see this. The blogger knows that of which he/she speaks. 8-)

I agree with Snave's lemon analogy. Mr. Pollock, I was excited for the possibility to see Soundgarden, as they were a heavy rumor, plus there was very little talk about Ween and Massive Attack as possible headliners. Outside of Arcade Fire, I can't think of a band I would rather see headline this year, and that includes Soundgarden.

But we can still be bros. You'll have to work on your chest bumps though. I recommend the local YMCA, because they have padded walls to help perfect your technique.

who needs big headliners? not i. talent? yes, please. are we going to see great songwriters? are we going to hear great singers? will we hear anybody that has real guitar chops or drummers with impressive time signatures? will we even be able to hear the bass players?

im not trying to be negative, just realistic. west coast indie rock in generally simplistic and doesnt have staying power. (see previous lineups for proof) nobody expects to have bands with jimi hendrix guitar players, especially me, but dont kid yourself.

you can tell me that Vampire Weekend is the greatest band until youre blue in the face, but musically, they are not that interesting. its really a flavor of the month (or year) festival that caters to those that drive a new volkswagen, not an old one. a smorgashboard of disposable bands with flashes of brillaince (WEEN).